A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
The climate deal reached in Paris at the weekend is as historic as the effusive comments from world leaders suggest — for the first time they have all signed up to an agreement that recognises the risks to life on Earth from man-made climate change.
Negotiated through the United Nationswith the aid of expert and dogged French diplomacy, the agreement aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels”.
A goal of having as much greenhouse gas coming out of the atmosphere as going into it in the second half of the century was equally ambitious.
Pledges made on emissions reductions targets by 186 nations going into the conference represent a clear shortfall on this ambition. The world has already warmed close to 1C since the 18th century, and it is estimated that current pledges put the world on course for 3C of warming.
The success of the COP21 Paris Talks on Climate Change is due to public pressure on governments to act in the face of growing evidence and scientific understanding of climate change and its risks. The hope is that this effect will grow and drive up the level of action, more so than any UN mandates could achieve.
Another hope is that technology and greater investment in research and development will provide solutions to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels. A carbon tax would be the best way to fund this and incentivise the transition, but the world does not seem ready for this key step yet.
One important breakthrough at Paris was the acceptance by developing countries that they will have a growing part to play in emission reduction efforts. The agreement also requires a flow of $US100 billion a year from developed countries to developing countries by 2020.
New Zealand now has some thinking to do about how it should react to the accord — a first step needs to be reshaping our Emissions Trading Scheme to make it fit for purpose.
